<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

"Killdozer!" is a 20,000-word story by Theodore Sturgeon, about a murderous bulldozer, possessed by an ancient, malevolent spirit. The story was first published in the November, 1944 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

Plot

A preface describes an ancient war between a great alien race and their machines; the possessor villain in this story is a remnant of that war—a being made up of electricity, trapped for eons under an island in the Pacific Ocean.

Eight men are assigned to a remote Pacific island in World War 2, to begin construction on an airfield. The men include Tom, the foreman; Chub, Kelly, Peebles, Harris, Rivera, Dennis, and Al Knowles. Tom and Rivera are working at a high plateau on the small island, with a tractor that Rivera nicknames Daisy Etta. They uncover some strange rocks, and are struck by an odd smell. Then Daisy Etta runs amok, seriously injuring Rivera. Tom is able to stop the tractor only by practically taking it apart, and that with difficulty. He then goes for help, but is reluctant to tell the other men just what happened. That night, Rivera dies of his wounds. Later, after the Daisy Etta is rebuilt (over Tom’s objections), Peebles is killed by an electrical arc. Dennis is angry at Tom, and wants him replaced as foreman; he disobeys Tom’s orders not to use the Daisy Etta, and takes it with him to another part of the island to do a job. When Tom hears about this, he follows after him angrily; but then he returns, saying that all he found was Dennis's body, mangled by the tractor.

The other men are naturally skeptical, and suspecting Tom of murder, they tie him up. When they hear a tractor noise that night, the four of them (Chub, Harris, Kelly, and Al Knowles) go to investigate, but Chub and Harris are killed, and only Kelly and Al return. They now believe Tom, that the tractor is possessed, and they untie him. Al becomes hysterical and useless; while Kelly and Tom use the other tractor on the island to fight Daisy Etta. They slowly realize that Daisy Etta has limitations—that it can be hurt, that it knows fear, and that it (or whatever is possessing the tractor) can only work through the Daisy Etta. They lure it out to the beach, planning to use the arc welder to electrocute it. Al Knowles finds himself at one point right next to Daisy Etta and, terrified, he tries to promise the machine that he will help it kill the other humans. But Tom and Kelly's plan works, and the Daisy Etta is destroyed. Later, the Army Air Corps accidentally bombs the island, and Tom and Kelly decide to put that in their report as the cause of the other men’s deaths. They realize that Al might tell the truth, but that no one would believe him.

Additional Notes

This story has been reprinted in, among other places, Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 6 (1944).

Adaptations

This story was filmed as a made-for-TV movie in 1974. Many of the character names were changed, and the cast included Robert Urich, Neville Brand, and Clint Walker. It was directed by Jerry London.